Old Fashioned Living
by Cehsja
Summary: Deleted scene from Episode 3.6. Takes place between the scene where they find the coded journal and when the camera cuts to them all dressed up with the old records playing right after. NOTE: This is a REPOST of my first ever Primeval fan fiction... I've just edited it now and made some changes. Oneshot. Conby&Sarah/Danny


Danny glanced at the book held in Sarah's hands. Her knuckles were pale from her death grip on it and he knew it was because she was so eager to read it. She loved stuff like that. Unfortunately, she'd probably have to wait until morning. They had to explore the place first and find out just where they were and what sort of supplies they'd have for the night. He didn't want to waste the kerosene lantern on late night reading. In their line of work, you never knew what would come in handy later.

At the moment it was, admittedly, still light out, but he wasn't sure for how much longer. It was hard to tell time in a place where it felt like time had stopped going altogether eighty years ago. He didn't have a watch, since he usually relied on his mobile, but that had gone out the car window. Anyway, he was more worried about dinner than the hour.

The only food they had was a handful of candy that he'd found in the car, which he now carried in his pocket. It looked disgusting, but if they didn't find something he was sure it'd be much more appealing soon. He'd already tossed a couple to Connor to stop him from complaining about his stomach. Connor had started to ask where the candies were from, but then promptly changed his mind.

"Never mind," he'd said as he'd dropped them into his mouth, "I don't want to know. I'm too hungry to be scared away from the food."

Of course, it hadn't lasted long and he was already complaining about his stomach again. After ignoring him for a long time, Danny answered curtly that they were all hungry and he should stop whining. Abby glanced over at Connor sympathetically at patted his arm. Somehow she always seemed to be a bit more tolerant of him.

"Thank-you, Abby," Connor said pointedly with a glance at Danny. Danny had a feeling the words were actually directed towards himself rather than at Abby. It was Connor's way of telling Danny, '_See,_ Abby is nice; you should be like her.'

He rolled his eyes and turned away to hide his grin. He had to admit, the boy did amuse him at times. His eyes fell back on Sarah who had stayed silent during the ordeal. She was turning the book over in her hands, staring at the cover. Danny moved closer to Sarah and put his hand on her elbow to draw her attention off the book and onto himself.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked her, mostly because he wanted to hear speak. Sarah was the strong and silent type. She wasn't in the least bit shy, but she was quiet and it was because she spent a lot of time thinking. Whenever she did speak, there was always an amazing amount of thought and conviction in her words. He loved knowing what was on her mind.

Sarah smiled at him, "It's a safe house; I was just wondering what the people who stayed here last were running from and why they needed to use it and, whether the answers were in this book."

"Well, you'll have to crack the code before you can find that out, and it won't be tonight." Abby piped up, "We have to find Connor some food."

Sarah grinned and turned to Abby, "Alright, let's go." She stepped towards Abby and Danny let his hand fall from Sarah's arm.

The girls headed to the door and Abby called behind them, "We'll get some food, you boys light a fire and find some water and something to cook it in."

"Careful!" Danny called after them.

"I can take care of myself!" Abby retorted back. But it wasn't Abby that Danny was really concerned about. Sarah had proved her worth back at the museum, but it was through her knowledge. She'd never actually been out in the field before. Not that this was technically considered working in the field, but for a safe house, he certainly didn't feel safe.

* * *

><p>An hour later they sat around the tiny kitchen table with a warm dinner in front of them. Danny wasn't entirely convinced that the meal was actually food, but it was edible. The girls had gathered bits of grain from a nearby wheat field and crushed it into some kind of mush. They'd cooked it in hot water and added a few blackberries and called it porridge. Danny took a bite and, to his surprise, it wasn't nearly as bad as he thought it would be. In fact, it was quite good.<p>

"You're a terrific cook, Abs!" Connor proclaimed gratefully.

Abby grinned, "Well I did have help."

"Sarah's good too," Connor agreed with a mouthful.

Danny nodded appreciatively, "This is really good, Girls. Thank-you, Both."

Sarah smiled, "You're welcome. It's a good thing you both like it so much, because we'll probably be having it for breakfast tomorrow too."

"And lunch," piped up Abby, "And dinner and then the next day and the next day and…"

Connor turned to Abby in horror, "How long do you think we're gonna _be_ here for?!"

Abby shrugged, "I don't know. I guess until Lester figures out how to come rescue us or Christine Johnson decides she doesn't need the artefact anymore… or until she finds us."

Connor groaned, "Man! We're gonna be here _forever_!"

"Oh, it's not so bad," Sarah said. "We've got fancy clothes to dress up in, and a book to read!"

"Only the book's in code and we can't read it."

"I'll work on that."

"Yeah," Abby agreed, and spoke to Connor, "This place might not have all the fancy high-tech gadgets that you're used to, but at least it's more modern than some of the places we've peeked into. I'd rather be stuck here than stuck in the cretaceous or something."

"True," Connor said, "That would be much worse; I don't even want to imagine what that would be like."

"And we've got each other," Danny said, catching Sarah's eyes as he spoke. He quickly looked away again and added, "We can always play some games or something to pass the time tomorrow."

"There's no consoles," Connor whined, his face falling again.

"Real games, Connor, not video games. You really need to get a life!" Abby shook her head at him. "I'm sure I could find something we could use as a football around here."

Danny sighed, "Personally, I was thinking Poker. If we can't find a deck of cards, I'm sure we could make some. Sarah, what's your preference?"

"Well, if I were to play, I'm with Abby. Football sounds good to me, but I think I'll pass. I really want to work on cracking this code tomorrow."

"Maybe I can help," Connor offered.

"Forget it; this is my project. But if you aren't up for games, I do have a bit of a project for you too."

"What?"

Sarah glanced at the others who were watching them and then stood up and whispered something in his ear. Connor's face lit up, but Abby and Danny were indignant.

"Hey! What's with all the secrets?!" Danny cried out.

Connor grinned at them, "You'll see."

* * *

><p>They finished eating and Connor stood up to wash the dishes. "You see," Abby said, turning to Sarah and Danny, "I've got him quite trained now. Every time he messed up something at the flat, I put him on dish duty for three days. I didn't have to do them the entire time he was with me."<p>

"Do you miss living with him?" Sarah asked her.

Abby nodded, "A little bit, yeah, but I wouldn't tell him that of course."

"Why not?"

"It'd go to his head. He likes me, you know."

Danny burst out laughing, "And you like him; we're not blind."

Abby shrugged. She hadn't actually admitted that to anyone but Jenny before and she wasn't aware that it was quite that obvious. "I just, I don't want to ruin a good friendship," she confided. "What if it didn't work out? Things are great right now. Do you think I should say something?"

"Do you think he'll move back in when Jack moves out?" Danny asked, eager to chance the subject that he'd inadvertently started. Giving advice to girls with crushes wasn't exactly his specialty.

Abby shrugged, "I'm not sure he'll want to. He said he's having a good time with his buddies."

"Abby," Sarah said gently. "He's living with Lester."

"_What!?" _ Abby spoke loudly enough in her surprise that she caught Connor's attention from where he stood on the other side of the room, washing the dishes as best as he could in the water he and Danny had fetched earlier.

Connor came back to the table and looked at them, "What's going on, Guys?"

Abby looked at Connor in disbelief, "This buddy you've been staying with is _Lester_?!"

Connor glared at Sarah, "_Thanks, _Sarah," he spoke sarcastically, "Remind me not to tell _you_ any more secrets."

"You didn't say she couldn't know, you just said she didn't. Abby's my friend; I wasn't about to lie to her."

"You couldn't have said nothing at all? Instead you have to make me look like a completely pathetic loser with no friends in front of the girl I…." he stopped mid-sentence, realising they were all looking at him. Abby's eyes searched his face, hopefully, but Connor looked down and continued, "The girl I used to live with."

"Nice save," Danny whispered sarcastically under his breath, but Abby let it slide and didn't push him to complete the original sentence. Sarah glanced at Danny and rolled her eyes in a look that purely said, 'When are they just going to admit it to each other?'

Danny shrugged at her and she smiled and turned her attention back to Connor. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry," she apologized to him. "But she must know you have friends, seeing as she's met all us, and Duncan. And as for the pathetic loser bit, well…"

"Well I figured that out pretty quickly after meeting you anyway," Abby finished with a smirk.

Danny snorted as he tried to hold back his laughter and Sarah didn't even try.

Connor frowned, "Still!"

Abby grinned at him and stood, tousling his hair, "Really, Connor? _Lester_?"

"At least it's company!"

"Yeah, he spent the first few nights at the ARC," Danny added, as eager to blab as Sarah had been. Might as well help the poor guy, he seemed to have trouble telling Abby this stuff himself.

Abby turned to Connor, "I thought you said you were living with friends."

"Friends, pets, whatever. Sid and Nancy aren't half bad company you know."

"I do know," Abby agreed, "but you could have told me. So, tell me, what's it like living with the boss man?"

"S'all right. Great actually, you know I think he might like me a little more because of it. Wouldn't be surprised if he gives me a raise any day now. I mean, we _are_ flatmates now. The flat is great too, huge. There's a ton of room for Sid & Nancy to run around."

"And Lester allows that?!" Danny asked, incredulously.

"Well, I'm not positive he actually knows about it."

"And you'd best not let him find out," Abby said firmly, "I don't want them to have to be locked in cages all the time."

"Course not," Connor agreed.

Abby smiled and then yawned. "Good. Well, I'm tired guys. I'm heading for bed." She stood and then hesitated, "Uh, where would that be?"

They all looked at each other and then around the room. Sarah stood up and opened the door to the bedroom where she'd found some fancy dresses earlier. "This," she said, "is the bedroom."

They stepped forward and stared at the one, very small bed in the middle of the room.

Abby glanced at them all and then jumped onto it, "G'night all. Wake me up in the morning, eh?"

"_Not. A. Chance_!" Connor replied, plopping himself down beside her, "Whoever said it's yours?"

Abby shrugged, "I'm the one who said I wanted to go to bed."

"We're all tired," Danny spoke up, "Come on, Connor. Let her have it. There isn't much room, but I'm sure both the girls can fit if they want. You and I will take the floor."

"You gotta be joking!" Connor said, "Stop being so chivalrous, Danny. Abby here is just as tough as any of the guys, if not more so. You don't have to treat her like a lady."

"Hey!" Abby protested, but Sarah could see she was actually flattered. Abby liked it when Connor told people she was tough.

Danny grabbed Connor by his arm and yanked him from the bed, "The bed is for the girls," he said firmly.

"Oh, it's alright," Abby sighed, standing up to survey the size of the bed doubtfully. "If we squish, we might all fit. It'll just be a bit crowded that's all. Connor _really_ hates sleeping on the floor."

Danny glanced at Sarah to see if she was comfortable with the idea and she held out her palms to him in a gesture that meant it was up to him.

"Fine," Danny said, "Girls on the right, Guys on the left."

Connor lay quickly and darted under the solitary blanket, "I claim the middle. Don't want to fall out."

Danny gave up and placed himself next to Connor on the edge of the bed and Abby quickly darted into the middle beside Connor. She wasn't trying to be greedy and she knew she could trust Sarah, but she couldn't quite abide the thought of Sarah sleeping cuddled up beside Connor and not her. Sarah wouldn't have even thought trying and she slipped off her suede boots and lay next to Abby.

It'd been a long day, and everyone was tired. Danny blew out the lantern and in the dark that had come with night fall, Danny couldn't quite make out if the others had fallen asleep, but he knew Connor was by the heavy breathing in his ear. Danny lay awake, uncomfortable on the edge. There really was no room here. He felt like if he budged an inch he'd fall off the bed. He already had one leg hanging over the edge with a foot on the floor. He vaguely wondered how Sarah was making out on the other side and hoped they'd given her a bit more room.

Sarah. Somehow his thoughts always seemed to wander back to her. He couldn't help it. The woman was gorgeous, funny and smart. Plus, he hoped that maybe, she liked him too. Danny had always been a bit of a flirt, and he was definitely a touchy feely type guy. It was second nature for him to grab a girl's hand when walking beside her, or reach out and hug her. Most girls gave him an odd look or told him he could let go, but Sarah never did. She didn't even pull away. Of course, it might not mean anything. Maybe she was just the same way, enjoyed the human touch. They were a lot alike in many ways. They both had a good many hidden skills and they both enjoyed history and the romantic age gone past where chivalry was still alive and well. Plus, they both spoke the rare but romantic language of Latin, though Danny hadn't actually had the opportunity to show off that skill to her yet. He was working on it.

Sarah suddenly let out a quiet groan and stood up, heading back into the kitchen. Danny watched her, wondering where she was going. He supposed she was looking for a better place to sleep; the bed really wasn't working for him either. He thought the hard wooden floor would be more comfortable, especially since Connor had just whacked him across the nose in his sleep. He stood up and moved to follow Sarah, glancing down at the bed as he did. Abby was asleep too. If they got the bed, then he would make sure that Sarah at least got the blanket. He quickly stripped the bed and watched as Abby moved in her sleep, huddling up to Connor for warmth.

Then he turned and went out, shutting the door behind him. Sarah stood in the middle of the kitchen, facing away from him. He was being quiet so as to not wake the others and she didn't hear him either as she carefully stumbled around, looking for something.

"Sarah," Danny said gently. She jumped slightly and turned to him.

"I couldn't sleep," she admitted, "I was half off the bed. Thought I'd try and find somewhere else to sleep, but it's too dark to see anything. Where'd we put the lantern we had at dinner."

"I blew it out, sorry. I'll try to find it again, one second." He turned to go and then suddenly turned back to her. "Here," he said, handing her the blanket, "I swiped it from Sleeping Beauty and his girlfriend."

He heard Sarah chuckle as she took the blanket gratefully. "Thanks, Danny."

He nodded and stumbled blindly back into the bedroom for the lantern.

* * *

><p>It took a long time to fetch the lamp without waking up the other two, but he managed in the end and eventually he even managed to get it lit. He held it up triumphantly so he could see Sarah's face. Had he thought he was gorgeous before? Somehow the way Sarah looked in the dull blue lights at the ARC didn't at all compare to the way she looked in the flickering golden light. He couldn't resist draping an arm over her shoulder as he held the light up and spoke.<p>

"See anything for us to sleep on?"

Sarah shook her head, "No, we may have to make do with the floor."

"It'd be better than that bed," Danny admitted, "But let's try the cellar." He let his hand slide down from her shoulders so that he could capture her hand as he led her down the stairs. Sarah held onto him tightly as she followed, unable to see much in the dim light.

"Aha!" Danny exclaimed, "Better than nothing." He pointed to an extremely old mattress that was propped up against the wall in a corner. It was ripped in places and had a few springs coming through and looked most uncomfortable, but Sarah grinned to see it too.

"Here," Danny said to her, dropping her hand to give her the lantern, "Hold this up for me and I'll grab it. He cleared the way past a bunch of empty crates and old empty potato sacks and unburied the mattress, spreading it out the floor for them.

"Okay here?" he asked her. "I don't really feel like trying to manoeuvre this thing back upstairs in the dark."

Sarah nodded and grabbed a couple of the potato sacks, "Yeah, I'm fine here. Let's try to cover up some of these springs though so they don't poke us in the back."

Danny nodded and they quickly spread out three layers of potato sacks onto the mattress and then lay down, placing the blanket over themselves.

"Ah," Danny sighed, "Much better. Not as good as home of course, but I feel like I can sleep here without fear of falling. Are you okay if a blow out the lantern again? I don't want to waste it."

"Yeah," Sarah whispered back, "That's fine."

Danny blew it out then, "Goodnight, Sarah."

"Goodnight, Danny."

Danny grinned when he felt Sarah's hand come to rest on his arm and he quickly moved closer to her, wrapping his arms around her protectively.

"Danny?"

"Mmm hmm?"

"You don't really think we'll be stuck here for too long do you?"

"No. Something will happen."

"How do you know?"

"We fight and save dinosaurs for a living. Trust me, Sarah, with a job like ours, something always happens eventually."

"That's true."

Danny could almost hear her smile. He moved his head down slightly to place a quick kiss in her hair, but at the same moment Sarah moved to look up at him. Before either knew what was happening, Danny quickly caught her mouth with his own. He hadn't planned on really kissing her like that, but he had to admit that it wasn't completely accidental either. He heard Sarah catch her breath and she stiffened slightly, but just in surprise. Danny stopped the kiss, but he didn't pull back and his lips still brushed against hers as he spoke softly, "Sarah?"

She relaxed and didn't pull away and he knew it meant he could continue. When he kissed her again, she hesitated a bit and then kissed him back deeply and passionately. It was always her style, he thought to himself. She'd hesitate about something, double checking herself to make sure it was okay, and then jump head first into whatever it was she'd decided to do. Like the day he'd broken into the ARC. She'd hesitated when he'd asked her to trust him and then she'd agreed and let him roam free around the building. She'd been the only one to trust him at that time, though Connor had followed soon after. They'd convinced Lester to let him head out onto the field with the flame throwers so he could prove himself to the rest. The kiss continued a little longer, but finally Sarah pulled herself away from him.

"Danny, I thought, I thought you liked Jenny."

"Silly little crush," Danny confirmed. "Lasted a couple days. She didn't exactly give me the time of day, did she?"

"Doesn't mean anything. I was asking about your feelings, not hers."

Danny shrugged, "It's over, Sarah. Honestly, I think I liked the sense of adventure I had every time I was around her, more than Jenny herself. There was always something going on. You know she tried to have me arrested, right?"

Sarah chucked a bit and Danny continued speaking, "It's not easy to like someone who pushes you away at every turn. You were there Sarah, she actually died for a moment from freezing and the first thing she said on coming back was that I shouldn't be holding her hand? I was trying to warm her up! I think that's as clear a sign of rejection as any. I realised she wasn't the one for me after all and after that the feelings died pretty quickly."

"You begged her to stay after that."

"Same day, my first day on the new job even if it was unofficial at the time I worked it, I'd just watched her die, Sarah. I hadn't had time to think about it yet. After a bit of a sleep I woke up and realised I didn't really even miss her that much, not like I thought I was going to and I certainly had no romantically inclined feelings for her. It was you that I couldn't keep out of my mind."

"Really?"

"Of course, you're the one who was actually there for me the whole time. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you, Sarah."

Sarah giggled, "I'm not sure that _here_ is a good place to be at the moment."

Danny shrugged, "I'd rather be here with you than somewhere else without you."

"Springy mattress and all?"

Danny kissed her one more time, "Springy mattress and all."

* * *

><p>They woke up the next morning to a loud crash. Danny groaned as he sat up. The mattress really had been hard on his back. Sarah sleepily rubbed her eyes beside him, "What was that?"<p>

"Either Sid or Nancy up there," Danny said, using the nicknames that Nick Cutter had come up with for Connor and Abby before they even had their little diictodon pets. "Possibly both of 'em." He hadn't actually met Nick, but he'd asked where the names for the pets had come from once and Connor and Abby had admitted they'd just transferred the nicknames over.

"Think we should go up?" Sarah asked.

"Probably," Danny said, a bit regretfully. "When everything is settled down at the ARC and we get to return, remind me to make Lester update the job description file to include babysitting."

"Will do," she smiled.

Danny gave her a quick kiss, and then took her hand as they climbed cautiously out of the cellar.

"There you are!" Abby grinned at them, "We were wondering what happened to you two, and our blanket."

"We found somewhere better to sleep," Danny replied. "But don't worry, if we're still here tonight, we'll trade with you. Sarah and I can take the bed and the two of you get the comfy mattress in the cellar."

Abby nodded absently, and then quickly gave them an update. "So, Connor's off on some secret project of yours, Sarah, and I'm fixing breakfast for the two of you as we've already eaten. I don't suppose you'll tell me what exactly it is that Connor's doing now?"

Sarah smiled and silently sat down at the table to eat. Danny joined her, though he had to admit, he was actually rather curious too. When they had finished eating and cleared the meal, Sarah pushed the table to the side of the room.

"We need to get out of these clothes," she said, "We've been wearing them forever. Come on, let's freshen up."

Abby grinned, knowing that they'd be changing into the fancy dresses Sarah had found in the bedroom earlier. The girls disappeared, and when they came back, Danny was stunned. Sarah was absolutely gorgeous in the shiny red fabric. "Wow!" was all he could say.

The girls grinned and Abby pushed a tuxedo towards him, "Here, it's your turn."

Danny looked at it doubtfully, "Me? In a tux?"

It was Sarah's chocolate brown puppy dog eyes that made him agree to it. When he came out, Sarah was sitting at the table, already at work cracking the code. She was completely engrossed in her work and didn't notice him come in. He stood against the wall for a moment, just staring at her, when suddenly Connor entered the room, also in a tux.

"Done!" he said, carrying the phonograph with him.

"Done what?" Danny asked.

"It was Sarah's idea. She figured I'd be able to make this thing work again and tada! I've got us some good ol' fashioned music from the 1930s!" He placed the needle on the player and extended his hand to Abby in an offer to dance.


End file.
